Bujari Gamarruwa! - Welcome! Acknowledgement of Country We acknowledge the custodians that make up this country we call Wa’ran (Sydney) who have cared for and cultivated the plants included in this resource for tens of thousands of years. We pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the custodians of knowledge of this place and its natural resources. From the writers of these resources: We are UTS Faculty of Education students, non Indigenous Australians and wrote this as a way to learn more about our country, its living Indigenous culture and methodologies to share this information with students in a respectful and engaging way. Thank you to D’harawal educator Shannon Foster who guided us in the writing of this resource and to UTS ART for creating the Waraburra Nura garden and website! Methodologies for incorporating Indigenous Knowledges into classrooms: When using this resource we encourage you to acknowledge that the information is derived from D’harawal women Fran Bodkin and Shannon Foster. This information has been shared with us to share with you to share with your students. We encourage you to go through the resources, hear from Fran speak about individual plants on the website and share your interests from the information we’ve provided. Where possible share Fran’s voice with your students, we want to encourage you to use Indigenous voices whenever possible. We suggest you approach this resource with humility, respect and curiosity! Its Ok to feel uncomfortable, in fact, get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable! We felt uncomfortable but we asked for help and are sharing our research with you. If talking about Indigenous culture is new or daunting to you, we encourage you to learn with your students, when questions come up that you are unable to answer utilise the opportunity to research and learn alongside your students. Your local Aboriginal Land Council, Indigenous Seniors and families in your community can be rich resources of knowledge and stories. Using the resources and website: On the resources page of the www.waraburranura.com website you will find a series of documents that compliment the activities for each stage including: 1. How to build your own garden (we encourage this!) 2. A list of Sydney plants 3. A list of words and translations from Wa’ran (Sydney) that relate to nature Each resource from Early Stage 1 to Stage 3 includes activities and their NSW curriculum outcomes. Enjoy!
- Lara, Kate, Taylor, Arianna 2018
Early Stage 1 - Waraburra Nura - Indigenous medicinal plants, Sydney region.
Written by Faculty of Education students, University of Technology Sydney
Plant Outcomes Activity Language Resources Dianella Revoluta
English ENe-8B: Demonstrates emerging skills and knowledge of texts to read and view, and shows developing awareness of purpose, audience and subject matter ENe-9B: Demonstrates developing skills and knowledge in grammar, punctuation and vocabulary when responding to and composing texts
An adaptation of ‘Pokulbi: how the Dianella came to be’ - The dreaming story can be altered so that the
husband Kulara can be portrayed as a bully, who did not respect and was not kind to Pokulbi
Discuss with students the purpose of oral Ancestral Histories in comparison to Western written records in books. Talk about the ending of the book with students- how do you think Pokulbi might have felt when her husband was not being nice to her? As a class, create an alternate ending to the story and write it on the board. Students copy the writing on the board in their own books and draw a picture at the bottom.
*Drawn from the Waraburra Nura website ‘Bada’- eat ‘Ngununy’-food ‘Duba’- the ground ‘Ngurra’- bird’s nest ‘Nura’- place or country
Copy of the book (either physical/ digital) English workbooks
Dianella Revoluta
English and drama ENe-10C: Thinks imaginatively and creatively about topics, simple ideas and the basic features of texts when responding to and composing texts DRAES1.1: Uses imagination and the elements of drama in imaginative play and dramatic situations
Put students together in groups of 2/3 students and ask them to retell either;
- The alternate ending created in the previous activity
- Original ending of the adapted story Give each group the opportunity to perform what they have come up with in front of the class
‘Nura’- place or country ‘Ngara’- listen, hear, think
Workbook (write notes/lines down to remember)
Dianella Revoluta
Science and Technology
Science experiment: using the berries off the Dianella plant, make lipstick
‘Bada’- eat ‘Ngununy’- food ‘Ngala’- look
Dianella berries Science workbooks
Early Stage 1 - Waraburra Nura - Indigenous medicinal plants, Sydney region.
Written by Faculty of Education students, University of Technology Sydney
STe-4WS: Explores their immediate surroundings by questioning, observing using their senses and communicating to share their observations and ideas
- In the week prior to this experiment taking place, students can ‘test’ the berries to ensure they are safe to consume and be placed near their mouths
- Aunty Fran Bodkin suggests rubbing the berries first on the wrist, then moving up the arms, to the neck and finally lips; waiting 24-48 hours in between to ensure a child won’t have a reaction
Note: it is important to point out to students when they are picking berries/flowers off any plant, it is courteous to not take all of them- they have seeds that are needed to continue the pollination cycle
‘Duba’- the ground ‘Wuruna’- go outside
All plants
Science and Technology STe- 4WS: Explores their immediate surroundings by questions, observing using their senses and communicating to share their observations and ideas MAe-13MG: Sequences events, uses everyday language to describe the durations of events, and reads hour time on clocks
Can be used as an introductory exercise to the senses or used as a follow-up activity to consolidate the concepts. Go out into the garden and discuss and record as a class;
- What does each plant feel like? - What does each plant smell like? - What does each plant taste like? Ensure
everything in the garden is safe to consume - What does each plant look like? - Does any plant make any sounds? What
happens when they are crushed/crumbled? -
This activity is an example of Dadirri or ‘deep listening’- the aim is to come to a deeper understanding of the beauty of nature. It gives students the opportunity to listen to the sounds around them and appreciate their surroundings
‘Bada’- eat ‘Ngununy’- food ‘Burudyara’- butterfly ‘Gana’- smell ‘Gilbanung’- grasshopper ‘Guganagina’- kookaburra ‘Ngalga’- look ‘Ngara’- listen, hear, think ‘Wuruna’- go outside ‘Nura’- place or country
Garden Science workbooks Worksheet
All plants
Science and Technology STe-7NE: Observes, using their sense how daily and seasonal changes in the
When introducing students to the four seasons (summer, autumn, winter, spring) the Indigenous perspective of the seasons can be presented to the class (see Appendix for example)
‘Guwing’- sun ‘Gura’- wind ‘Ngara’- listen, hear, think
Indigenous seasons poster (see appendix for an example) Map of Australian Indigenous
Early Stage 1 - Waraburra Nura - Indigenous medicinal plants, Sydney region.
Written by Faculty of Education students, University of Technology Sydney
environment affect them and other living things
- Note: there are many different versions of the seasons, choose one that is local to your area/community
- To help students process the different Indigenous countries in Australia, the AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia can be used as a reference point that children can manipulate
Discuss with students which plants in the garden grow best in certain seasons- why? What do plants need to grow? Extension activity:
- Create a class poster about which plants grow in the seasons aligning with the poster above or something similar
countries (see appendix) Science workbooks
All plants
Science and Technology STe-8NE: Identifies the basic needs of living things
For students to take care of plants in the garden, they need to be aware of what plants need to stay alive and continue to grow. Discuss with students that plants (and humans) need food, water and air to stay healthy. The video ‘The needs of a Plant’ song on YouTube can be shown to students to introduce the concepts. Students complete a sorting activity that separates the ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ plant to grow.
‘Bada’- eat ‘Ngununy’- food ‘Guwing’- sun
‘The needs of a Plant’ YouTube video (see appendix) Smart board/ interactive white board to show video Sorting activity worksheet
All plants
Creative Arts VAES1.1: Makes simple pictures and other kinds of artworks about things and experiences VAES1.2: Experiments with a range of media in selected forms
This can be integrated into the class timetable and used to calm students down for the first 10/15 minutes after recess or lunch. Send students out into the garden and allow them to draw their favourite plant/flower. Encourage students to experiment with different mediums such as pencils, crayons, textas, oil pastels, charcoal, paint etc.
‘Ngalga’- look ‘Ngara’- listen, hear, think ‘Duba’- the ground ‘Wuruna’- go outside
Indigenous garden Art workbooks/ spare paper Art supplies
Early Stage 1 - Waraburra Nura - Indigenous medicinal plants, Sydney region.
Written by Faculty of Education students, University of Technology Sydney
All plants
Maths MAe-3WM: Uses concrete materials and/or pictorial representations to support conclusions MAe-17SP: Represents data and interprets data displays made from objects
Create a class graph with students, documenting; (bar/column graph)
- Students favourite plant in the garden - If considering planting a new species in the
garden, which one should be planted? Work in collaboration with students to collect the data, giving them a template to create their graph from. Once the graph has been created, ask students question that encourage them to interpret the data found on the graph;
- Which plant was the most favourite? - Which plant was the least favourite? - How many more students voted for ____ rather
than ___?
‘Ngara’- listen, hear, think
Garden Maths workbooks Graph template (see appendix)
All plants
Maths MAe-1WM: Describes mathematical situations using everyday language, actions, materials and informal recordings MAe-2WM: Uses objects, actions, technology and/or trial and error to explore mathematical problems MAe-8NA: Recognises, describes and continues repeating patterns
Prior to the lesson, have containers comprising of several groups of the same type of leaf. Students are placed in pairs or groups of three and take turns creating simple patterns for their partner/s, who then need to choose the correct leaf to continue the pattern. Encourage students to create increasingly complex patterns as they gain more confidence.
‘Djirang’- leaves of trees ‘Ngara’- listen, hear, think ‘Yanga’- do
Containers Leaves from the garden
All plants
English ENe-8B: Demonstrates emerging skills and knowledge pf texts to
As a class, create a word wall comprising of the key language surrounding the garden itself. Examples of this metalanguage may include;
- Seasons
‘Bada’- eat ‘Gana’- smell ‘Guwing’- sun ‘Gura’- wind ‘Ngala’- look
Area to create the word wall Supplies to create the word wall
Early Stage 1 - Waraburra Nura - Indigenous medicinal plants, Sydney region.
Written by Faculty of Education students, University of Technology Sydney
read and view, and shows developing awareness of purpose, audience and subject matter ENe-10C: Thinks imaginatively and creatively about familiar topics, simple ideas and the basic features of texts when responding to and composing to texts
- Plants in the garden (and key words to remember the different plants)
- Language from any dreaming stories that have been read in class
- Key words in Dharug and D’harawal language (found on the Waraburra Nura website)
‘Waraburra Nura’
All plants
English ENe-2A: Composes simple texts to convey an idea or message ENe-3A: Produces most lower case and upper case letters and uses digital technologies to construct texts ENe-5A: Demonstrates developing skills in using letters, simple sound blends and some sight words to represent known words when spelling ENe-10C: Thinks imaginatively and creatively about familiar topics, simple ideas and
Starting with joint construction, the teacher can create a class acrostic poem to familiarise students with poetic forms and features. Once students are familiar with the text type, in small groups students can create their own acrostic poem from the following words with the teacher spending time with each group to help them;
- Garden - Plant - Flower - Nature - Environment
Once each group has created their poem, 1-2 students from each group can present their poem to the rest of the class.
‘Ngara’- listen, hear, think ‘Yanga’- do ‘Waraburra Nura’
Spare paper/ English workbooks Pencils, crayons
Early Stage 1 - Waraburra Nura - Indigenous medicinal plants, Sydney region.
Written by Faculty of Education students, University of Technology Sydney
the basic features of texts when responding to and composing texts
All plants
Other activity ideas On the D’harawal Stories website, there are colouring in pages that students can colour in as a fast finishers activity or when there might be a spare 5/10 minutes before recess or lunch. The colouring in pages include;
- Annual season cycle - Specific seasons - Dreaming stories (from the same website)
Colouring in pages (see appendix) Art supplies (pencils, crayons, textas)
Early Stage 1 - Waraburra Nura - Indigenous medicinal plants, Sydney region.
Written by Faculty of Education students, University of Technology Sydney
Appendices Indigenous seasons poster:
- Dharawal annual cycle poster [Image] (2015, September 24). Retrieved September 26,
2018, from https://dharawalstories.com/2015/09/24/perpetual-calendar/
Early Stage 1 - Waraburra Nura - Indigenous medicinal plants, Sydney region.
Written by Faculty of Education students, University of Technology Sydney
AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia: - AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia [Image] (1996). Retrieved September 26, 2018,
from https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/articles/aiatsis-map-indigenous-australia
‘The needs of a Plant’ song:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUBIQ1fTRzI
Colouring in pages:
- https://dharawalstories.com/2015/09/24/colouring-in/
Early Stage 1 - Waraburra Nura - Indigenous medicinal plants, Sydney region.
Written by Faculty of Education students, University of Technology Sydney
Bar graph template:
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